The importance of alignment of acetabular components of hip arthroplasty systems is well-known in the field. Inaccurate alignment may lead to early and increased wear of components, loss of range of hip joint motion, patient pain, and hip joint dislocation. The most common means of acetabular component alignment currently in use utilize mechanical reference devices attached to acetabular trials or components during insertion. These reference devices are used to attempt to reference a patient's body axis and one or more planes within the patient's skeletal system. These methods have been practiced successfully, but anatomical variations, skeletal wear, and difficulties associated with maintaining visualization and reference to such anatomical references can lead to poor acetabular component alignment results. Computer-aided navigation systems have also been used to achieve alignment of acetabular components, but these systems also typically rely on anatomical references, which can lead to inconsistent alignment results. Improved systems may rely on one or both of designed and observed femoral range of motion relative to an acetabulum to guide the placement of acetabular components. Such systems may operate with less dependence on anatomical features of the acetabulum and surrounding skeletal structures to determine proper alignment of acetabular components.